Sunday, March 1, 2009

Goat Kids In The House

You are seeing exactly what you think you are seeing, a diaper on a kid goat.



As hard as I try, I always end up with a few kids in the house. We have had gorgeous weather, but now the wind chill has turned dangerous. With my does giving birth with so much ease, practically no signs of labor beforehand, no sounds while kidding, I am doing double watch duty.



I have four kids in the house at this point.



They do not wear diapers all of the time. Luckily, as expensive as diapers are these days, I found a package in the linen closet from last year.



Often times the baby goats, if needed, will move into one or several of our large dog crates until the wind chill climbs back up into a safety zone.



The first two kids are in the house because they were a part of triplets born (not the same dam). With the cold and wind, and does that seemed overwhelmed, I ended up rescuing one each. The last two were born at 5:00 this morning and never dried off well enough to ward off the cold. I worked on all four to bring their body temperature back up. Two were "iffy," but all are happy and healthy right now!



I have been busy this Sunday, and still trying to sneak in a nap. We just had two more born within the hour. I helped the mommas dry the kids. I am hoping they gain their own body temperature quick enough so I do not need to remove them from the barn.


I give a lot of credit to my husband, Bob, for being right there, helping as he can.



Our kid goat hotel until Wednesday (when the barn temperatures should be safe again):

8 comments:

Twisted Fencepost said...

They are adorable. And in the house? I would be sitting in the middle of them. How do you keep from getting attached to them? That would be a problem for me!

Mary Humphrey said...

They all get loved, but I allow myself to love the ones that I know I am keeping that much more. They are a lot of fun, a lot of work, but the joy of it wins over.

KathyB. said...

Oh! They are so cute! Wish I had thought of disposable diapers when I had baby goats in the house. What is your kid count now?

I hope you don't get so tired and busy that you forget to enjoy the little ones...I catch myself doing just that and then stop and remember " hey, I love this, !" looks like you AND your husband do too.

Anonymous said...

So very nice to "meet" you and find your blog. What sweet pictures today. Hope you get that nap in this afternoon!

Mary Humphrey said...

Hi Mildred, good to see you too!

Kathy, I actually never thought about diapers either. I saw Jama, from Prosperine Goat Hill, use them a few years back.

Cut a slit in the diaper for the tail and wala, a goat/lamb diaper. It works better on the girls though. Trying to keep a diaper around the middle of a buck is a challenge.

Never got the nap in today. They kidded nearly all afternoon, and I need to go and check again. We had 2 heading into labor a short while ago.

Anonymous said...

How fun, I have been there done that before, LOL, we had to put some in the back part of our house and build temporary pens in our garage as well, don't really miss those days much!

Unknown said...

They are so cute! I love goats.
We raise cows & it is always such a good feeling to save a calf.

Mary Humphrey said...

Yes, it is a big decision to save the young ones, meaning, do you pull them from their mother, are they going to survive if you do not? Reality is, we (as humans) decided to breed the animals, and we are ultimately responsible for their survival, and then the decision is very much sharpened.

Thanks for visiting the blog!